Pet health! I'm saving a fortune

MJH_2

Hi all

I'm new here and just thought i'd start with a really good money saving tip: If you have a pet or keep animals and your vet prescribes or recommends a product don't feel obliged to buy it from them! There are a number of online pharmacies in the UK that will sell you the exact same product for much less. If it's a prescription product you have to get a prescription signed by your vet (which they are legally obliged to do I believe) and then post that off to the online phramacy when you order.

My favorite site is https://www.animalmedicines.co.uk. It's easy to find what you want quickly, they have unbelievable prices and offer free delivery. They even have some good articles with advice and recommended solutions to common problems. There are a few other online pet pharmacies in the UK but on the whole I have found that one to be the best. I'm now saving a fortune on drugs for my dogs that I need to buy reguarly.

More money saving tips coming soon from me!...

Edinburghlass_2

Haven't taken time yet to really look at the site but did check out the cat Frontline as I use it regularly and found it to be the same price as at my local vets. Worth checking out exactly what you do pay at your vet and see if there is a cheaper vet you can move to.

I checked around a few when I had to get vaccinations done and it was surprising the difference in prices amongst about six vets.

MJH_2

I guess that like most places they're probably cheaper on some products and unable to discount others for whatever reason. I have found that as a rule Animalmedicines are about 20% cheaper than my local vet but as you say - maybe it's my vet prices that are high!!

katy2

I had a quick look, not very competitive for horse wormers, but I will save the site for future reference, as it is one I hadn't come across, thanks.

trafalgar_2

I noticed on lots of items it says

This product requires a Prescription signed by your vet

this could very well incur a charge........unless your vet is happy to do so for free.

MJH_2

Yeah, not sure about that. My vet does them for free - don't know about others.

IvanOpinion

Alternatively try to find out if there is a human equivalent and simply ask the vet what dosage to give to your animal (buy yourself a cheap tablet cutter as well). As an example some tablets that we used on one of our dogs were the equivalent of zotan and the local superdrug sold these for much less than the vets equivalent (fortunately our vet is very honest about such things ... which is why we stick with her).

I did look up the price of Metacalm which we used for our last dog and it was slightly less than the vet - I am guessing P&P would make it the same.



Ivan

***Edit by Board Guide-please get advice from a vet before giving any pet medication***

bunking_off

For acute care I guess you're always better using your local vet. However, when it comes to ongoing treatment, I can't avoid the conclusion that they're set up to fleece pet owners.

One of our cats needs "prescription" petfood, supposedly only available from the vets and certainly not available at conventional pet shops. However, on doing some digging I found https://www.petdrugsquick.co.uk , who can supply the food in question (Hills C/D) without a prescription, and for about a quarter of the price of any of the local vets I checked. Also, if your cat needs Felliway to keep them calm, you'll generally save approx 25% by buying online.

I'd be very wary of giving pets human drugs. We followed the telephone advice of an oncall emergency vet to give our cat human drugs (can't remember if asprin or paracetamol) at low dose, only to be subsequently told by another that they're highly toxic....get a second opinion before you trust them!

(Mind you, more light-heartedly, when I used to suffer from arthritis, my mad mother-in-law gave me pills that she swore by and termed "horse tablets". I took that to refer to their size, and was somewhat flabbergasted when I subsequently found out that they were indeed for horses and she'd got them from the vets....but some digging did reveal that they were actually the same ones my doctor had prescribed me!)

MJH_2

Indeed. Personally, I would be very wary of using human drugs on pets. It's just not worth the risk unless you really know what you're doing.

bunking_off: https://www.animalmedicines.co.uk also do the so called 'prescription' foods like Hills C/D and I find that for most things they're even cheaper than PetDrugsQuick and miles cheaper than the vet.

Also, IvanOpinion: AnimalMedicines do free delivery on all the lighter weight stuff such as Metacam so the total cost is less than your vet and it arrives within a couple of days by Royal Mail which I find very reliable.

bunking_off

MJH
Thanks for the pointer. However, for the feline C/D biccies which our sloth, sorry, cat eats,

animalmedicines = £41.92 + 8.50 p&p = £50.42
petdrugsquick = £42.25 + 5.88 p&p = £48.13


...anyone found a cheap supplier of Felliway diffusers?

saver_sam

I haven't tried them yet but you can get Frontline Plus from Oz. See http://pets-megastore.com.au/r2d2/detail.asp?CatID=13&ParentID=2 (approx £23.06 for six months worth plus £2.68 freight). Doesn't look like you need a prescription